# AI memory prices are set to double in 2027, adding about US$3m per MW. SK hynix reports on 28 October

> A 36 GB HBM4 stack is expected to cost about US$1,300 in 2027, up from about US$600. That adds US$3.1-3.4m per MW of Vera Rubin racks; SK hynix reports on 28 October.

Publisher: DC Market Insights  
Published: 2026-10-22  
Last updated: 2026-10-22  
Page: https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/news/ai-memory-prices-are-set-to-double-in-2027-adding-about-us3m-per-mw-sk-hynix-reports-on-28-october

## Key takeaways

- A 12-high, 36 GB HBM4 stack is expected to cost about US$1,300 in 2027, up from about US$600 this year, according to industry estimates reported by Seoul Economic Daily on 1 October.
- NVIDIA's Vera Rubin NVL72 rack carries 72 GPUs with 288 GB of HBM4 each, or 576 stacks. At those prices its HBM bill rises from about US$346,000 to about US$749,000 (our calculation).
- That is US$3.1-3.4 million more per MW of IT load at 120-130 kW per rack, about 10% of the US$31.62 million of IT hardware in each AI megawatt in the DC Market Insights model.
- TrendForce projects conventional DRAM contract prices up 10-15% quarter on quarter in Q4 2026. Samsung guided to about KRW 107.4 trillion of Q3 operating profit on about KRW 195 trillion of sales (8 October).
- SK hynix holds its Q3 2026 earnings call on 28 October at 9:00 a.m. Seoul time, where 2027 HBM volume and price talks are the number to watch.

The most expensive line in a 2027 AI data centre may not be the building, the transformer or the chiller. It may be the memory stacked next to each GPU, and almost all of it comes from South Korea.

Why now: Korean and US memory makers are negotiating 2027 HBM contracts with their largest customers this quarter. Samsung's record Q3 guidance on 8 October and Micron's 30 September results showed how much pricing power the suppliers hold. SK hynix, the largest HBM supplier, reports on 28 October.

**~US$1,300** Expected 2027 price of a 36 GB HBM4 stack, up from ~US$600 (Seoul Economic Daily)

**US$3.1-3.4m** Extra HBM cost per MW of Vera Rubin racks in 2027 (our calculation)

**28 Oct** SK hynix Q3 2026 earnings call, 9:00 a.m. Seoul (SK hynix 6-K)

## How we got here: AI demand pulled memory into a shortage

Memory was once the cheap, cyclical part of a server. AI changed that. Each accelerator now sits on stacks of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and every new GPU generation carries more of it. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin NVL72 rack lists 288 GB of HBM4 per Rubin GPU and 20.7 TB per rack, plus up to 54 TB of LPDDR5X memory for its 36 Vera CPUs, [according to NVIDIA](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/vera-rubin-nvl72/). Dell'Oro Group expects the average high-end accelerator to carry more than 500 GB of HBM by 2030.

Suppliers have moved wafers to HBM and server DRAM to meet that demand, which left conventional memory short as well. Samsung's Kim Tae-woo, an executive vice president in its memory business, said HBM's share of global DRAM capacity would rise from about 20% to close to 30% next year, [Seoul Economic Daily reported](https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/01/hbm-prices-to-more-than-double-next-year-as-shortage).

The result shows up in the suppliers' accounts. SK hynix reported Q2 2026 revenue of KRW 79.32 trillion and operating profit of KRW 60.54 trillion, a 76% operating margin, with revenue up 257% year on year, in its [29 July release](https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2026/07/30/sk-hynix-fiscal-2q26-financial-results/). Samsung guided on 8 October to Q3 sales of about KRW 195 trillion and operating profit of about KRW 107.4 trillion, a margin of about 55% across the whole group (our calculation), in its [pre-earnings guidance](https://www.samsung.com/global/ir/reports-disclosures/public-disclosure-view.84775/). Micron reported fiscal Q4 revenue of US$54.23 billion, against US$11.32 billion a year earlier, with a non-GAAP gross margin of 87.0%, in its [30 September release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000723125/000072312526000018/a2026q4ex991-pressrelease.htm).

> Micron delivered record fiscal 2026 results, and we expect an even stronger fiscal 2027.

***Sanjay Mehrotra** , Chairman, President and CEO, Micron Technology — [Micron results release, 30 Sep 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000723125/000072312526000018/a2026q4ex991-pressrelease.htm)*

| Memory maker | Period | Revenue | Operating result | Next event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SK hynix | Q2 2026 (to June) | KRW 79.32 trillion (+257% y/y) | KRW 60.54 trillion operating profit, 76% margin | Q3 call, 28 Oct 2026, 9:00 a.m. KST |
| Samsung Electronics (whole group) | Q3 2026 guidance | ~KRW 195 trillion | ~KRW 107.4 trillion operating profit, ~55% margin (our calculation) | Full Q3 results expected late October |
| Micron Technology | Fiscal Q4 2026 (to 3 Sep) | US$54.23 billion (US$11.32 billion a year earlier) | 87.0% non-GAAP gross margin | Fiscal Q1 2027 guidance US$61.5 billion ± US$1.5 billion |

Sources: [SK hynix 2Q26 results, 29 Jul 2026](https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2026/07/30/sk-hynix-fiscal-2q26-financial-results/); [Samsung Electronics 3Q 2026 pre-earnings guidance, 8 Oct 2026](https://www.samsung.com/global/ir/reports-disclosures/public-disclosure-view.84775/); [Micron 8-K, 30 Sep 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000723125/000072312526000018/a2026q4ex991-pressrelease.htm); [SK hynix 6-K, 14 Oct 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0002120882/000119312526420934/d413172d6k.htm). Samsung's margin covers all businesses, not memory alone, and is not comparable with Micron's gross margin.

## What changed: 2027 contracts are being priced now

Three sets of numbers moved in the past month. On 30 September [TrendForce projected](https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20260930-13258.html) conventional DRAM contract prices up 10-15% quarter on quarter in Q4 2026 and NAND Flash up 15-20%, saying server DRAM would stay undersupplied. On 1 October, Seoul Economic Daily reported industry estimates that a 12-high, 36 GB HBM4 stack would cost about US$1,300 in 2027, against about US$600 this year, and cited a TrendForce forecast that HBM average selling prices rise 121% in 2027. The paper noted that prices vary by customer, specification and contract terms. Micron said it had contracted most of its 2027 HBM bit supply, and Samsung and SK hynix are still negotiating 2027 prices.

Earlier forecasts point the same way, though by different amounts. [TrendForce reported on 25 August](https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/08/25/news-nvidias-reported-15-server-hike-boosts-samsung-sk-hynix-with-hbm-prices-potentially-up-50-in-2027/) that UBS projected 2027 HBM average selling prices up about 79%, and that NVIDIA was reportedly planning to raise prices for Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell servers by more than 15% in early 2027, according to Bloomberg. Dell'Oro Group expects server DRAM to average about US$10 per GB in 2026 and to ease toward US$5 per GB by 2030. At those prices, it estimated, memory could add nearly 10% to cumulative server spending through 2030 compared with prices held at about US$3.50 per GB, in its [20 August analysis](https://www.delloro.com/the-growing-memory-tax-on-ai-infrastructure/).

| Memory price signal | Figure | Who said it, when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 12-high 36 GB HBM4 stack | ~US$600 (2026) to ~US$1,300 (2027) | Industry estimates, Seoul Economic Daily, 1 Oct 2026 |
| HBM average selling price, 2027 | +121% | TrendForce, via Seoul Economic Daily, 1 Oct 2026 |
| HBM average selling price, 2027 | about +79% | UBS, via TrendForce, 25 Aug 2026 |
| Conventional DRAM contract prices, Q4 2026 | +10-15% quarter on quarter | TrendForce, 30 Sep 2026 |
| NAND Flash contract prices, Q4 2026 | +15-20% quarter on quarter | TrendForce, 30 Sep 2026 |
| Server DRAM average selling price | ~US$10/GB in 2026, toward US$5/GB by 2030 | Dell'Oro Group, 20 Aug 2026 |
| NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell server prices | more than +15% in early 2027 (reported plan) | Bloomberg, via TrendForce, 25 Aug 2026 |

Sources as listed in the table. The HBM forecasts use different methods (a stack price estimate, two average-selling-price forecasts) and should not be compared as if they measured the same thing. We use the stack prices for our calculation because they map directly to NVIDIA's published memory configuration.

## The economics: what HBM4 adds to an AI megawatt

Our calculation starts from NVIDIA's published configuration. A Rubin GPU carries 288 GB of HBM4, which is eight 36 GB stacks. A Vera Rubin NVL72 rack has 72 GPUs, so 576 stacks. At about US$600 a stack, the HBM in one rack costs about US$345,600. At about US$1,300, it costs about US$748,800, or US$403,200 more per rack. Per GPU, the HBM bill rises from about US$4,800 to about US$10,400.

*Figure 1. HBM4 cost in one Vera Rubin NVL72 rack at 2026 and estimated 2027 stack prices. Source: [NVIDIA](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/vera-rubin-nvl72/); [Seoul Economic Daily](https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/01/hbm-prices-to-more-than-double-next-year-as-shortage); DC Market Insights calculation.*

To turn that into a cost per megawatt, we need rack power. NVIDIA does not publish a figure for the NVL72 rack on its product page, so we use a range of 120-130 kW per rack, in line with industry estimates for this generation. That gives 7.7 to 8.3 racks per MW of IT load, and an HBM increase of US$3.1-3.4 million per MW. For a 1 GW AI campus of Rubin-class racks, that is US$3.1-3.4 billion of extra memory cost in 2027.

| HBM4 cost, Vera Rubin NVL72 | 2026 (~US$600 per stack) | 2027 (~US$1,300 per stack) | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Per GPU (8 stacks, 288 GB) | US$4,800 | US$10,400 | +US$5,600 |
| Per rack (72 GPUs, 576 stacks) | US$345,600 | US$748,800 | +US$403,200 |
| Per MW at 130 kW per rack (7.7 racks) | US$2.66m | US$5.76m | +US$3.10m |
| Per MW at 120 kW per rack (8.3 racks) | US$2.88m | US$6.24m | +US$3.36m |
| Share of DCMI IT hardware cost per AI MW (US$31.62m) | 8.4-9.1% | 18.2-19.7% | +9.8-10.6 points |

Our calculation from [NVIDIA's Vera Rubin NVL72 specifications](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/vera-rubin-nvl72/) and the stack prices reported by [Seoul Economic Daily](https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/01/hbm-prices-to-more-than-double-next-year-as-shortage). Rack power is an assumption, not an NVIDIA figure. The DCMI IT hardware figure is for 2025 from our [AI Data Center Market](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/ai-data-center-market) model. Contract prices differ by buyer, and the largest buyers may pay less.

Set against the DC Market Insights model, the increase is material. We estimate an AI data centre cost about US$44.70 million per MW in 2025: US$31.62 million of IT hardware and US$13.08 million of power, cooling and shell. The 2027 HBM increase alone is about 10% of that IT hardware figure and about 7% of the total.

## Against Asia-Pacific build costs, the memory bill is large

The comparison with the building itself is sharper. Cushman & Wakefield's 2026 Asia Pacific construction cost guide puts the mid-range cost of building a data centre at US$16.0 million per MW in Japan, US$14.4 million in Singapore, US$10.6 million in South Korea, US$10.0 million in Australia, US$9.6 million in Malaysia, US$7.4 million in India and US$6.5 million in Taiwan. Costs rose 22.7% in a year in Singapore, 20.9% in Japan and 11.5% in South Korea, [the firm said](https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/singapore/news/apac-dc-market-faces-structural-cost-shift-amid-rising-ai-requirements).

*Figure 2. Mid-range construction cost per MW by market against the 2027 HBM4 price rise per MW of Vera Rubin racks. Source: [Cushman & Wakefield](https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/singapore/news/apac-dc-market-faces-structural-cost-shift-amid-rising-ai-requirements); DC Market Insights calculation.*

On those figures, the 2027 HBM increase of US$3.1-3.4 million per MW equals 29-32% of the cost of building a megawatt in South Korea, 19-21% in Japan and 42-45% in India (our calculation). In other words, for an AI tenant the year-on-year change in one component inside the racks is now in the same range as a large part of the shell, power and cooling budget.

> AI is transforming data centre design far faster than traditional development cycles anticipated.

***Pritesh Swamy** , Head of Research & Advisory, Data Centre Group, Asia Pacific, Cushman & Wakefield — [Cushman & Wakefield, 1 Apr 2026](https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/singapore/news/apac-dc-market-faces-structural-cost-shift-amid-rising-ai-requirements)*

## Who is paying, and who is gaining

**GPU cloud and AI developers in Asia.**  Neoclouds and sovereign AI projects buy racks at list or near it and lack the volume of the largest US hyperscalers. They carry the full stack price. In our view, a GPU cloud that signed 2027 customer contracts at 2026 hardware costs faces a margin squeeze unless the contract passes through hardware costs.

**Server makers and integrators.**  Taiwan's ODMs and server brands sit between memory makers and buyers. A reported NVIDIA price rise of more than 15% for Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell servers in early 2027 would pass part of the memory bill on, but it also raises the capital each customer must find.

**Colocation operators.**  Memory sits in the tenant's racks, not in the operator's building. But tenants budget for a whole deployment. When the IT bill rises by about 10%, in our view some will delay phases, which slows how fast new halls fill.

**Korean memory makers.**  SK hynix had about 50% of HBM revenue in Q2 and Samsung 33%, with Micron at 18%, according to Counterpoint Research figures cited by Seoul Economic Daily. In practice most of the 2027 increase flows to two Korean companies.

## The wider pattern: Korea's own power bill

The cash also exposes a Korean policy question. In September KEPCO, the state utility, asked Samsung Electronics to prepay KRW 20 trillion and SK hynix KRW 5 trillion of electricity bills for 2027-2031 to help fund the grid, including links to the Yongin and Honam semiconductor clusters. Both companies said it would be difficult to accept, [Asia Economy reported](https://view.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026091408262225158) on 14 September. The government has also said it will create a dedicated electricity rate for AI data centres alongside region-based industrial tariffs, according to our [South Korea power and policy page](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/data/power-policy/south-korea). No rate schedule has been published.

So the same AI build-out raises chipmakers' profits, raises the cost of AI racks and raises the bill for the grid that serves both. The memory price cycle and Korea's grid funding are now linked.

### What it means for operators, investors and vendors

Our view, based on the figures above:

- **Budget US$3-3.5 million per MW more for 2027 Rubin-class deployments.**  That is the HBM increase alone at 120-130 kW per rack, before any DRAM, SSD or server price rise.
- **Put hardware cost pass-through into GPU cloud contracts.**  A 10% move in IT hardware cost per MW can erase the margin on a fixed-price multi-year contract.
- **Lock memory supply early.**  Micron says most of its 2027 HBM is contracted; buyers negotiating in Q4 2026 have less choice than they did in Q2.
- **Colocation operators: expect slower phase take-up, not cancellations.**  If tenants' IT bills rise by about 10%, staged fit-outs are the first thing to move.
- **Investors: read 28-29 October as a pricing signal for 2027 AI capex.**  SK hynix and Samsung commentary on 2027 HBM volume and price will reset AI server cost forecasts.
- **Vendors of power and cooling: the shell is no longer the main cost lever.**  At US$10.6 million per MW to build in Korea, a 10% saving on the building is worth about a third of one year's HBM increase.

For the size of the market these costs feed into, see our [AI Data Center Market](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/ai-data-center-market) report, which breaks down cost per AI megawatt. For Korea, see the [South Korea AI Data Center Market](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/south-korea-ai-data-center-market) report, and for the storage side of the memory cycle, the [NAND Flash & Enterprise SSD Market](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/nand-flash-and-enterprise-ssd-market) report. Korea's grid and tariff rules are tracked on our [South Korea power and policy page](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/data/power-policy/south-korea), and new capacity by market on the [data center construction pipeline](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/data/data-center-construction-pipeline) page.

## What to watch next

- **28 October 2026, 9:00 a.m. Seoul:**  SK hynix Q3 2026 earnings call, with comments on 2027 HBM volume and price talks.
- **Late October 2026:**  Samsung Electronics full Q3 2026 results, with memory segment figures behind the KRW 107.4 trillion operating profit guidance.
- **December 2026:**  Q1 2027 contract price forecasts, the first quarter priced under the new HBM4 terms.
- **Early 2027:**  the reported NVIDIA price rise of more than 15% for Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell servers, if it goes ahead.
- **2027:**  Korea's dedicated AI data centre electricity rate; no date or price has been published yet.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does HBM4 memory cost?

About US$600 for a 12-high, 36 GB HBM4 stack in 2026, rising to about US$1,300 in 2027, according to industry estimates reported by Seoul Economic Daily on 1 October 2026. Prices vary by customer, specification and contract terms.

### How much HBM is in an NVIDIA Vera Rubin rack?

20.7 TB: 72 Rubin GPUs with 288 GB of HBM4 each, or 576 stacks of 36 GB, according to NVIDIA. At estimated 2027 prices that HBM costs about US$749,000 per rack, against about US$346,000 at 2026 prices (our calculation).

### How much do memory prices add to the cost of an AI data center?

About US$3.1-3.4 million per MW in 2027 from HBM4 alone, at 120-130 kW per rack (our calculation). That is about 10% of the US$31.62 million of IT hardware per AI megawatt in the DC Market Insights model.

### When does SK hynix report Q3 2026 earnings?

On 28 October 2026, with a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Seoul time, according to its 6-K filing of 14 October. SK hynix had a 76% operating margin in Q2 2026 on KRW 79.32 trillion of revenue.

## Sources

1. NVIDIA, "Vera Rubin NVL72" product specifications. [Link](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/vera-rubin-nvl72/)
2. Seoul Economic Daily, "HBM Prices to More Than Double Next Year as Shortage Persists", 1 Oct 2026. [Link](https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/01/hbm-prices-to-more-than-double-next-year-as-shortage)
3. SK hynix, Form 6-K (Q3 2026 earnings conference call notice), 14 Oct 2026. [Link](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0002120882/000119312526420934/d413172d6k.htm)
4. SK hynix, 2Q26 financial results, 29 Jul 2026, via StorageNewsletter. [Link](https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2026/07/30/sk-hynix-fiscal-2q26-financial-results/)
5. Samsung Electronics, "3Q 2026 Pre-Earnings Guidance", 8 Oct 2026. [Link](https://www.samsung.com/global/ir/reports-disclosures/public-disclosure-view.84775/)
6. Micron Technology, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, fiscal Q4 2026 results, 30 Sep 2026. [Link](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000723125/000072312526000018/a2026q4ex991-pressrelease.htm)
7. TrendForce, "AI Server Demand Sustains Memory Contract Price Increases in 4Q26, While Consumer-Side Pressure Persists", 30 Sep 2026. [Link](https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20260930-13258.html)
8. TrendForce, "NVIDIA's Reported 15% Server Hike Boosts Samsung, SK hynix with HBM Prices Potentially Up 50% in 2027", 25 Aug 2026. [Link](https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/08/25/news-nvidias-reported-15-server-hike-boosts-samsung-sk-hynix-with-hbm-prices-potentially-up-50-in-2027/)
9. Dell'Oro Group, "The Growing Memory Tax on AI Infrastructure", 20 Aug 2026. [Link](https://www.delloro.com/the-growing-memory-tax-on-ai-infrastructure/)
10. Cushman & Wakefield, "Asia Pacific's Data Centre Market Faces Structural Cost Shift Amid Rising AI Requirements", 1 Apr 2026. [Link](https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/singapore/news/apac-dc-market-faces-structural-cost-shift-amid-rising-ai-requirements)
11. Asia Economy, "'Prepay 25 Trillion Won in Electricity Fees'…Samsung and SK hynix Reject KEPCO's Proposal", 14 Sep 2026. [Link](https://view.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026091408262225158)
12. DC Market Insights, AI Data Center Market (cost per AI MW, 2025) and South Korea power and policy data. [Link](https://www.dcmarketinsights.com/report/ai-data-center-market)